Confidence is the key for West Indies

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Big up yourselves fellas; points are on the board. Big up your ‘whole selves’ ladies; points are on the board! Big up to the CWI administration for their selections in the Zimbabwe tour, for it has yielded a series victory. A 2-0 series would’ve been the icing on the cake. However, if I were in Brathwaite’s shoes, I would’ve declared much later on day five. A draw won’t hurt, and a series win is a series win.

We’ve found gems in Gudakesh Motie and Tagenarine Chanderpaul. Perhaps Akeem Jordan and Alick Athanaze could join them; I don’t wanna jinx it. Let it be known that Motie and Chanderpaul are products of West Indies’ (WI) development structure and set-up for a long time, and not just because the legendary tiger is the latter’s old man. The process is bearing fruit and the WI players are churning out excellent performances. It now becomes a case of winning matches convincingly with those excellent performances.

Now on to South Africa, a series victory against the Proteas at all costs. Same template, but confidence is key, and resilience under pressure is the deciding factor. Brathwaite, Blackwood, Tage, Mayers, Da Silva, Mayers, Chase, Reifer need to score big. Big contributions in the form of centuries and double centuries. Par scores nowadays in a first innings, anywhere against anybody, is 400-plus runs, not just for pressuring the opposition, but giving the bowling attack an excellent cushion to work with.

Hope is our best ODI batsman, so others must bat and score around him. Scoring and chasing 300-plus runs is regulation in this format. If a team bats for a full 50 overs, eight out of 10 times you will win the game. I’ve never had any doubts about our bowling attack, but ruthlessness and a cut-throat mentality are needed.

Full support is needed for Rovman Powell, he is a no-nonsense guy and has a nasty streak in him. The WI know what they must do against South Africa in the T20 series, we don’t have to tell them what to do. The limited-overs leg is a massive series for Nicholas Pooran, to prove his worth as a world-class, top-order batsman. Rally ‘round the West Indies to infinity and beyond.

KENDELL KARAN

Chaguanas

Trinidad and Tobago